About Us

In 1872, John and Jacob Smith pulled the first copies of the Lebanon Daily News from their Taylor hand press, fulfilling a dream that had brought them to Lebanon from the Berks County village of Hamburg two years earlier.

Within two years of launching the Lebanon Daily News, the Smiths sold it to Dan Sharp and Joseph Reinhard. Sharp and Reinhard, both Lebanon natives, changed the look of the paper, introducing a front page nameplate in Old English type. They also moved the Lebanon Daily News to 26 S. Eighth St., which would be the paper's home for 70 years.

By the 1950s, the newspaper needed more space and a larger press to accommodate its ever-growing readership. In July 1958, the newspaper broke ground for a 35,000-square-foot plant at South Eighth and Poplar streets. Two years later, the staff moved into the new building where we remain today. Then-Gov. David Lawrence pushed the button to start the new press on its initial run on Jan. 11, 1960.

Throughout its history, the Lebanon Daily News has covered news from the Lebanon Valley and around the world. But in 1972, a hurricane would stop production of the newspaper. The Lebanon Daily News plant was hit hard. The 30-day supply of newsprint stored in the basement and the press were submerged under 12 feet of muddy water. All electric, telephone and gas service were disrupted. And the plant itself was cut off by flooded streets. It was the only day in the newspaper's history that it failed to publish a paper.

The following day, the Lebanon Daily News published an eight-page tabloid, "Flood Edition," at the Palm Press in nearby Palmyra, reporting on the biggest news story of the year in the Lebanon Valley. On June 24 and for the next several weeks while the plant was cleaned up and equipment repaired, the Pottstown Mercury allowed the Lebanon Daily News to use its press. Printing resumed in Lebanon on July 8, and for the next seven years, the Schropp family would continue to lead the newspaper.

In 1979, the Schropp family sold the paper to Richard Mellon Scaife of Pittsburgh, marking the first time the Lebanon Daily News was not locally owned. During the Scaife era, the newspaper launched a Sunday edition, the Sunday Pennsylvanian. Several years later, the Sunday Pennsylvanian name was dropped, but the newspaper continues to publish seven days a week to this day.

Six years after purchasing the Lebanon Daily News, Scaife sold it to Thomson Newspapers, a Canadian publishing corporation that owned newspapers in the United States and Canada. With the change in ownership came a change in name, and the Lebanon Daily News became The Daily News.

In 1997, the Lebanon Daily News was sold once again, this time to MediaNews Group Inc. During a visit to Lebanon that summer, MediaNews Group's owner, Dean Singleton, changed the newspaper's name back to the Lebanon Daily News. And while the newspaper again bore the name given it by its founders on Sept. 9, 1872, other changes were ahead.

On April 28, 2009, the last Lebanon Daily News was printed on the press in the South Eighth Street building. In a cost-cutting measure, press operations were consolidated at the newspaper's MediaNews Group sister, York Newspaper Co., which publishes the York Daily Record/Sunday News and the York Dispatch. The newspaper is printed in York, then put onto a truck and hauled back to Lebanon every day.

Classified, some accounting functions and prepress - the building of pages - also have been regionalized. But our reporters and photographers continue to gather the news in the Lebanon Valley, and our editors continue to edit the news in Lebanon.

Gannett, publishers of 92 different media organizations including USA Today, purchased the Lebanon Daily News in 2015 and are the current owners.

About Lebanon City:

Located in the south-central part of Pennsylvania, Lebanon City—originally named "Steitztown"—was settled by European colonists in 1723 and was valued for its fertile soil that created an agricultural economic base that still stands today. The town was laid out in 1753, incorporated as a borough on February 20, 1821, and finally became a city on November 25, 1885.

Lebanon is home to the well-known "Lebanon bologna," which was developed in the 19th century by the PA Dutch of Lebanon County. That is why on New Years Eve, 150 pounds of the bologna is raised by a fire department ladder truck for the celebration. Mike Rowe, the host of the show Dirty Jobs, even came to visit Lebanon in 2008 to film the production of the famous meat.

Lebanon City is one of 26 unique municipalities and 7 boroughs in Lebanon County that is served by the Lebanon Daily News. Lebanon County ranked 28th among the state’s 67 counties in population with 133,568 residents in 2010 and 60th in size, encompassing 363 square miles or 232,256 acres. The county is expected to continue to grow through 2020 to an estimated population of 136,359 residents according to the United States Census Bureau.

Gannett is a leading media and marketing solutions company that reaches millions of people every day through digital, mobile, broadcast, and print media.

As an innovative industry leader, Gannett engages consumers wherever they are with its powerful brands and trusted content. The company helps businesses grow by providing marketing solutions that reach and engage their customers across its diverse platforms.